Sometimes poems make us look at something familiar from several different perspectives. Like the poem by Wallace Stevens poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Poets can describe birds in different ways, a bird can be a symbol for faith, freedom, wisdom, or it can be a pest.
Learning to focus on different aspects is an important thinking skill. The term thinking skills may sound all serious and dull, but thinking can be great fun. Writing poems can involve imaginative, crazy and silly thinking. A great way to build up thinking skills, these skills can later be used to solve difficult and more serious problems.
Writing a poem about colours can involve focusing on different aspects of the color. The poem can contain a list of things that are lime green: lime fruits hanging in tree glittering like jewels in the sun, apples in the apple pie, and caterpillars sliding on the morning dew. Then you could focus on things that sound like the color lime, like the sound of raindrops on small leaves, or the sound of the neighbour’s baby screaming. You can think about what the color taste like, feels like and what the color can do. Go here to fill in your ideas and then you can print out the poem.
You can also make a poem with an absurd or crazy idea. Exaggerating is a common technique for making poems funny. By making something bigger or much smaller than normal, you may start to giggle at the thought. Like Jack Prelutsky’s poem A Pizza the Size of the Sun. The idea with a pizza the size of the sun is absurd and unreasonable. Yet this exaggeration makes us smile and think. It helps us to step away from our “usual” way of thinking and it can lead to new ideas. Using absurd and crazy suggestions is a useful tool to generate new ideas and being creative. The suggestion about a pizza the size of the sun, could lead to ideas for new ways to make a pizza. Who is making the first sphere pizza, glowing with orange tomato sauce. . .
A Pizza the Size of the Sun – Jack Prelutsky
I’m making a pizza the size of the sun,
a pizza that’s sure to weigh more than a ton,
a pizza too massive to pick up and toss,
a pizza resplendent with oceans of sauce.
I’m topping my pizza with mountains of cheese,
with acres of peppers, pimentos, and peas,
with mushrooms, tomatoes, and sausage galore,
with every last olive they had at the store.
My pizza is sure to be one of a kind,
my pizza will leave other pizzas behind,
my pizza will be a delectable treat,
that all who love pizza are welcome to eat.
The oven is hot, I believe it will take
a year and a half for my pizza to bake.
I can hardly wait til my pizza is done,
my wonderful pizza the size of the sun.
Photo: “Delighted Young Girl Jumping High In The Air” by stockimages
